Indigenous Justice

“To bring justice to the children who never made it home is to be able to identify who they are, bringing peace to the families and truth about the children’s passing,” said Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir of the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc.  

On May 27, 2021 Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc confirmed an unthinkable loss—the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is the home community of the largest school in the residential school system. 

Am I strange or have you also left a website open in your browser just because you couldn’t bear to close it?  For five months after the event ended, I kept the EventBrite page open and I smiled every time I saw it.  This open tab reminded me of the amazing time of preparation for and the celebration of the Broken Walls concert held on Sept. 30 (The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) in Belleville, On.

There is an infectious disease running rampant in the healthcare system that is targeted at Indigenous people.  The disease is racism and prejudice.  

In June 2020, stories began to surface about a “Price is Right” game being played in some B.C. hospital Emergency Departments  in which health care workers were guessing blood alcohol levels of Indigenous patients.  These allegations were based on stereotypical assumptions that all Indigenous people were drunks.

In the Fall of 2018 I visited Palestine-Israel. Our Palestinian tour guide was also an Israeli citizen. He was one of only 60 officially recognized Palestinian guides. This is in contrast with the 5,000 plus Jewish tour guides. This discrepancy tells you who’s story gets told.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17: 15-18, NIV

Lord, thank you for 2023.  I put my 2024 in your hands.  

As we exit 2023 we intentionally pray with gratitude for good news from this year.    

Dedicated to helping those fleeing from war, couple sponsors 11 Ukrainians

When Russia invaded Ukraine, countless Americans watched the images of war in horror. But for one couple in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the conflict hit close to home in a number of ways. 

Centennial Christian School in Terrace recently participated in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise.  The BC First Peoples Grade 11/12 class wrote letters to their friends afterwards reflecting on their experiences.  Consider yourself a friend and read these three thoughtful reflections.

Recently I settled  my youngest son into a semester of study in New Mexico – near the Navajo Nation. It has been good to see him begin to be immersed once again into our culture, our foods, our language, and our beautiful red soil & rocks.

People are a little shocked when we tell them that we are “Missionaries” who don’t start any programs.  As servants of Christ we come beside individuals and see what their dreams are for their community. We work together on how we can support them.  

Christopher Columbus, so brave and true, sailed the mighty ocean blue, in fourteen hundred and ninety-two, and found a land so bright and new! Or so the hagiography goes. Brian Walsh and Rick Middleton in their book, Truth is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age make the case for reimagining the heroic Columbus narrative in the light of the Indigenous perspective that saw the 1492 “discovery of America” in a completely different way.